Mordechai Schamz

One can only assume that this Prix Medicis-winning writer has suffered seriously in translation. The philosophical musings of the only character, the eponymous Mordechai Schamz, a sort of existentialist Everyman, are broken by clumsy narration and despairing letters sent to Mordechai's mistress, Olympe T., and to an omnipotent figure addressed simply as ``G.'' Nothing happens. Mordechai swims in a public pool. He goes to the barber. He reflects on his childhood. Even his description is deliberately vagueMordechai is described as a ``big tramp.'' While there are some lyrical, light-as-air passages, the convoluted prose makes this slim novel tedious going. (Jan.)